


What They Don't See

by Drones_of_Innocence



Category: Super Mario & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bodyguard, Alternate Universe - College/University, Bathing/Washing, Bodyguard Romance, F/M, Fraternities & Sororities, Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, Language, Minor Injuries, Romance, Romantic Fluff, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 16:13:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29968956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drones_of_Innocence/pseuds/Drones_of_Innocence
Summary: Princess Peach, a student at Mushroom Kingdom University, has just about had it with Bowser's fraternity, Pi Koopa Alpha. When they take it a step too far and injure her bodyguard, Peach isn't sure what to do.
Relationships: Mario/Peach-hime | Peach Toadstool, Princess Daisy/Luigi
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	What They Don't See

**Author's Note:**

> CW: Initial violence involving head trauma; concussed character; concussion is not handled properly; one character assists another with bathing; partial nudity but not presented in an inappropriate manner; two characters share a bed platonically with the presence of romantic tension.

O~o~O

Everyone stopped when the glass shattered.

“No!” a clear voice called out. Peach wrenched herself from Luigi and Daisy’s grasp and rushed forward. “What have you done?!”

Roy stood over Mario, the broken bottle in his hand. Blinking, he lifted his shades just to see clearly, while the bottle tumbled from his claws and clattered on the pavement. The streetlight behind him flickered once. The shards of glass seemed to glitter all over the ground. Every member of Pi Koopa Alpha was silent as they watched.

Mario wavered. His stare was fixed straight ahead, at nothing. Peach threw her arms around him and glared, her eyes shining under the lights, at Roy. She wouldn’t let him get any closer. “You ought to be ashamed of yourself,” she seethed, her voice strained.

Luigi met with them, gingerly touching Mario’s elbow. “Hey, are you okay?” he tried to ask him. Peach closed her eyes and took in a shaky breath when he didn’t respond.

Roy’s arm dropped to his side, and he took a step back. The sight before him must have been strange. The Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom, with rage in her eyes, shielding her own bodyguard from him. Her bodyguard, who could no longer stand on his own.

“You asshole,” Daisy spat from behind her. She approached Mario as well, and the three of them tried to ease him a few steps back away from Roy.

Bowser dropped a forceful hand on Roy’s shoulder. “That was unnecessary,” he said. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

“But— but I didn’t—” Roy started to say, looking with wide eyes between Mario and Bowser, but Bowser shook his head. “I didn’t mean—”

Peach let go of Mario and marched directly up to Roy, until they were practically nose-to-nose. “Look at what you did. Look at him! How am I supposed to see this as anything other than a direct attack on the Mushroom Kingdom?” she demanded, and her voice cracked as she gestured to Mario. “He’s bleeding. Just— Just look at him.”

She could feel her eyes stinging, her throat closing up. But she kept the tears back as much as she was able. Pi Koopa Alpha didn’t need any more fodder to use against her. 

What was she supposed to do? They’d never gone so far with violence before. The worst they had done was threaten her or try to provoke Mario. But he had shown admirable restraint that she just wasn’t sure she shared at the moment. Her fists balled up, her jaw clenched. Her thoughts buzzed; all at once she was a woman standing there, and a little girl, helpless under the gravity of all the eyes upon her. 

Behind her, she heard a struggle. Mario had dropped to one knee, the look in his eyes hazy. Though Daisy and Luigi tried to wrestle him back to his feet, it was clear to everyone that Mario was in no state to stand. Much less defend them.

Peach swallowed hard. When she selected him all those months ago to be her bodyguard, she never imagined anything like this would actually happen. He didn’t deserve this. He had been saving her from this stupid fraternity before she even knew his name. And now, how did she repay him? By putting him in direct danger? His job was to protect her from real, dangerous threats, not take the blow for her when she went to confront the fraternity brothers that harassed her.

Her searing gaze fell to Bowser. The deluded notion that she would somehow fall for him if he kept teasing her drove her decision to try and end it tonight. She was sick of the pranks, the notes, the trouble he caused her. Though, she wasn’t sure any of them actually expected Roy to follow through with his threats to Mario after all this time. This wasn’t what she wanted at all. “You and I are on thin ice,” she hissed. “Keep your pathetic minions away from my friends. Your business is with me. Not with them.”

He seemed to flinch. His eyes flashed to the glass on the pavement, and briefly to Mario, before he focused on her again. “I’m sorry.” he mumbled a low, but earnest apology.

Behind him, she spotted Ludwig. His cold grin illuminated by the pale light of the street LEDs. The only one who was smiling. She narrowed her eyes. Perhaps he was the one who orchestrated this whole thing; it wouldn’t be the first time. 

She turned on her heel, her hair flipping over her shoulder, before she met with Daisy and Luigi again. “We have to get him to a hospital.” she said, and knelt to try and get Mario back on his feet again. They nodded and worked with her. She didn’t notice her knee was cut by the glass until she saw a small trail of blood.

“N— no, no…” Mario was trying to speak. He struggled against them, but vaguely, with no real command of his movements. “Not, not the hospital. No.”

Peach sniffed. The weak tone of his voice hurt her. His accent was a lot thicker, his words muddled. “Mario, you’re hurt. We have to take you to get checked out.” she tried to smile for him, but she wasn’t sure that she managed it.

He shook his head and tried to jerk his arm in a way that made Daisy nearly lose her balance, and Luigi winced when he was suddenly bearing the brunt of his brother’s weight. He insisted with a shake of his head. “No. We— we can’t. Please…” his eyes only just focused on her. Those startling blue eyes, normally so bright and clear, now glazed. He was hardly able to keep them open.

Her heart ached. They stopped moving, and she was aware that all of Pi Koopa Alpha was still watching them and their pains to leave the dark street. Luigi and Daisy were breathing hard trying to keep Mario upright. She closed her eyes and let out a soft sigh, and reached out to touch his face. “Okay. We won’t go to the hospital.” she agreed quietly. Then, to Daisy, “Our apartment.”

Luigi fished around in his back pocket with his free hand. “Our car is around the block. At our place.” he gave Daisy his keys. “So we don’t have to drag him all the way. Can you do it?”

With a grim smile, Daisy eased Mario down and let Peach take him. “You know it, darling. Sit him down. I’ll be back.” she turned and sprinted off into the night, the keys jingling in her grasp.

“Good thing she’s on the track team,” Luigi tried to joke, but his tone was weary. He worked with Peach to seat Mario down on the curb, and they were both aware of Pi Koopa Alpha watching them through their stiff silence.

Mario wavered, even between Peach and Luigi’s steady hold on him. His head tilted. Peach let out a soft sigh as his temple rested against her chest, apparently unintentionally, and she adjusted her arms so he could rest more easily upon her. Luigi’s eyes focused on her with a suddenly placid look, before he looked off like her into space.

The night was cool and quiet. Peach heard Bowser speaking with the other fraternity members, his tone low and sharp. Admonishing them, she realized. She had never once seen him discipline his own subjects before. She couldn’t make out the words, but it didn’t matter. Her fingers started to go through Mario’s hair, only to stop when she grazed the edge of a glass shard. Glass in his hair. The thick rush of anger came back, filling up her chest all the way to her throat.

She threw a sharp glare over her shoulder, seeking Roy, only to find that Bowser had turned him away and was apparently lecturing him. Her steely gaze landed on Ludwig instead. He looked on with a mild look, that maddening satisfaction. She would get her chance to undermine him. She swore it. 

“I know that you feel bad,” Luigi murmured in a low voice to her, glancing briefly behind him to make sure the others wouldn’t hear. She didn’t understand the tranquil look on his face. His own brother was sitting, bleeding, between them. “But please don’t. He’s been hit much harder than this before. And I know that he meant it, that vow before the King when he was appointed as your bodyguard.”

Peach shook her head. “I know, I just…” she looked down at Mario, his shoulders stiff and his arms limp. His eyes were struggling to stay open. She pursed her lips. “He shouldn’t have been here. This is my fault. If it weren’t for me making us follow Bowser at this hour...And my stars, he’s _bleeding_.” she tried to keep her voice from trembling as she tried to apply pressure to where she thought a cut was, only for Mario to shift out of pain.

With a grim, yet somehow fond look to Mario, Luigi patted his back. “You know, the story they never tell about the Jumpman is what happened when he faced Donkey Kong, and what happened after.” he looked at her with a wry grin. “You ever seen a guy try to fight a gorilla? It wasn’t pretty. Mario managed to win, not because he was stronger but because he was a little smarter. He was pretty beat up afterward. Concussion, broken wrist, sprained achilles, and some other stuff. All the adrenaline made it look easy. But he hardly walked for a week after that.

“But he came back. I mean, he’s here. He’s tough. So he’ll be okay, he’ll recover. And, well, it’s nice to have some friends to help us out this time.” Luigi admitted. “Hey, did I ever tell you about all the times Mario thought he could body a car? He—”

Mario shifted against Peach. “That was...That, was _one time_ ,” he spoke in a slurred voice. His arm moved in such a way that Peach recognized he was trying to elbow Luigi. His voice was practically gone from how tired he was. Once he spoke, he leaned back into her, and his eyes closed the rest of the way. Not sleeping, but not all there either. Peach gathered him up in her arms on some overwhelming sympathetic impulse and held him tightly.

Luigi snickered and shook his head. Before he could reply, he and Peach looked up at the sound of a motor down the street, and saw the brother’s truck speeding along the road. “That’s our cue.” he said. 

Peach nodded. They both counted to three and lifted Mario at the same time, though Peach found herself gritting her teeth because most of his weight was leaning into her. She took the brunt without complaint. If he could get a beer bottle smashed on his head for her, then she could find the strength to carry him as best as she could. Plus, she thought with narrowed eyes, she refused to let Pi Koopa Alpha see her struggle. 

They got him standing just in time. Daisy braked and slowed to a stop right in front of them. Through the window, they could see her reach across to throw open the passenger door. “Get in, losers.” she grinned.

Thankfully, Mario was at least able to shuffle his feet along. With both Luigi and Peach’s guidance, they got him to the truck. In what had to be pure habit alone, Peach watched in amazement as he clambered into the vehicle without much help. Then he nearly collapsed.

“Let’s get him in the back,” Luigi suggested. For a few moments, they worked on getting Mario into the back with the bench seat where he could lay down. No one stopped Peach when she went back with him.

She arranged to sit with Mario’s head in her lap, just as Luigi closed the passenger door. Daisy honked the horn at Pi Koopa Alpha for an obnoxious amount of time and gave the finger before she drove off. Each of them flinched and jumped at the sound.

Peach glared out the window at Bowser, and as the momentum rocked Mario into her, she kept her arms around him.

O~o~O

“Okay, okay, in the door…” 

All three of them grunted as they finally managed to drag Mario into the apartment. He stumbled and his boots fell heavily on their laminate floor, but somehow they were able to keep him upright.

“Up in the...How do you…? Not that,” Mario was mumbling, though none of them had a good idea of what he was saying, much less if he was actually making any sense or not.

Their roommates fussed around them. “Oh, no. Oh, dear, what happened?” Pauline tried to get a clear look at Mario’s face, but his head kept drooping. He was breathing hard. His knees started to cave. “Here, let me help.” she opted to support him from his front, and finally, with four people, they were able to keep Mario stable.

Rosalina slipped behind them to close and lock the door. “Where do we take him?” she asked.

Panting, Peach briefly took her hand away to wipe sweat from her brow. “My room. The bathroom,” she said quickly. 

No one argued. In the next moment, they were all working to push Mario down the left hall to Peach’s bedroom. Mario let out a small sound. Peach had to bite her lip and keep moving despite how all she wanted to do was drop everything and hold him until everything was okay. Her arms burned and her legs felt weak. The elevator in their apartment building wasn’t working, so they’d had to drag Mario up three flights of stairs. Only one person passed them on their way to their door. The assumption was clear on their face in the way they wrinkled their nose, at the sight of Mario’s dazed look and the unmistakable smell of alcohol. 

She fumbled with her doorknob and managed to twist it open. Just as quickly as they burst in, she had to open the door to her little bathroom. She could hear everyone breathing. Everyone working so hard just to help him.

Finally, Mario was sat on her toilet. He slumped against the tank, and everyone stood up to breathe. “I’ll get the first aid kit!” Daisy yelled out, and hurried back out into the hall. Pauline and Rosalina backed out of the crowded space to look on from her room, so it was just Luigi and Peach left with Mario.

Wiping her nose, Peach looked at the state of them. Mario, his hair matted with dried beer and glass, his shirt sticky and his eyes unfocused. Luigi, having broken a sweat just like her from the whole ordeal. Pauline and Rosalina, quietly discussing their options behind them. Her thoughts buzzed. They’d gotten him safely into the girls’ apartment. Now what? She tried to think. How could they help him? Where did they start to clean up this whole mess?

She didn’t realize she was losing control of her breathing until Luigi touched her elbow. “Hey,” he said, trying to ease her nerves with a small smile. “It’s okay. I’ll get him cleaned up. You can go and relax.”

Daisy came careening back into the bathroom, and slammed the first aid kid on her counter. Mario jumped at the noise. “Here you go.” she said, and backed out again.

“I will start a pot of tea.” Rosalina informed them, before she headed out into the hall again. Pauline and Daisy followed.

Once they were gone, Peach shook her head and focused on Luigi again. “No, I can’t relax. I want to help. What can I do? What does he need?” Surely, she thought, he needed a shower. But he also needed the glass taken out of his hair, and she had no idea how much was in there or how long it would take to find it all. Were his cuts still bleeding? She didn’t know anything about first aid or how to go about fixing anything that might be injured. Her hands shook just slightly. There was a rush of anger in her throat, for her circumstances. A Princess could learn how to run a Kingdom, but apparently nothing useful when it came to basic, practical knowledge about how to take care of someone else.

Luigi gave a small sigh, and rubbed his eyebrow. “Okay. Well, he’ll need a place to sleep. Maybe you could set up the couch out there like the others did that one time for him, the first time he stayed over here. You remember? When he brought you back from that party?”

She did remember. And she wasn’t about to speak of it ever again. “My bed.” she blurted out. Luigi frowned like was going to argue, so she spoke quickly. “He can sleep on my bed. It’s much more comfortable than the couch. Besides, I can keep my room quiet to let him rest for as long as he needs. We can’t exactly avoid making noise in the living area since the kitchen is right there. I’ll sleep on the couch.” she nodded to herself.

With a slow nod and a slight grimace, Luigi offered his reluctant agreement. “Only if you’re okay with it,” he conceded. “Alright. He needs a change of clothes, because I mean...This needs to be washed.” he pulled at Mario’s shirt and shook his head.

“Oh. You left a pair of your sweats and boxers here one time. I found them when Daisy forgot her laundry in the dryer. Maybe those are still here.” Peach tapped her chin. “I don’t think we have a shirt in his size. But he doesn’t really need one, right?”

She tried not to smile when Luigi blushed and rubbed the back of his head. “So that’s where those went,” he mumbled.

“Yeah, I’ve still got them!” They both looked up when they heard Daisy holler from the kitchen.

Shaking her head, Peach sighed. “Alright. So he’s got somewhere to sleep, something to wear. We need to get the glass out of his hair and maybe see if we can get him to shower?”

Luigi blinked. He looked between her pink shower curtains and Mario. “Are you sure? I mean, I think I can get him cleaned up without troubling you and using your shower. It’s enough that you let him in here to get fixed up at all. He’ll be really grateful, you know, once he’s back in his right mind.” he cast a glance to Mario, still flopped against her toilet and absentmindedly tapping his fingers against the ceramic.

The room felt quite small with the three of them in there. Peach gave a frustrated gesture and almost knocked a cup off her vanity. “Look. Luigi, he got a bottle smashed on his head for me. He can use my shower, sleep in my bed, eat my food, and anything else you can think of as far as I’m concerned!” she brushed a strand of hair out of her face, and realized through the stark echo of the bathroom she had raised her voice. “I’m sorry. I’m just...I want to be of help, but I don’t really know how. I don’t know anything. And Mario, he’s so important to me, and to see him like this just…” she rubbed her arm.

Her voice trailed off and she looked at the floor. With a small smile, Luigi reached forward and rested his hand on her shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay. You’re doing great.” he spoke with a soft tone. “I’m really glad that you care so much about him. He cares about you, too. Otherwise, well, he, ehm, wouldn’t take a beer bottle to the head.” he scratched the back of his head with a nervous laugh.

They both looked to Mario, who was dozing. His soft breaths, in and out. His brow still creased out of pain. Peach felt her heart surge and a distinct need to embrace him as tightly as she could. She kept her hands at her sides and clutched the hem of her shorts instead.

The girls in the kitchen were all talking, and they could hear through the walls. After a moment, Luigi raised his eyebrows. “Okay. Let’s do this; I’ll go and talk to your roommates, tell them how he is and see if they have any suggestions. They can help me find painkillers or something. Maybe Daisy and I will drive back to me and Mario’s dorm to pick up his textbooks and a change of clothes for tomorrow. And you can stay right here and get the glass out of his hair. How’s that?” he gestured like he was about to make his way out. 

Startled by the sudden responsibility, Peach had to bite back questioning Luigi’s decision. “Er, yes. That’s fine.” She could do it. Right? She assured herself she could handle it.

“Thanks, that’s a huge help. Okay. Good luck, I’ll be back soon.” Luigi shifted by her and ducked out the door. Peach watched him go with wide eyes. Just before he shut the door, he grinned at her and flashed a thumbs up. “I know you can do it.”

The door clicked shut. Peach was alone with Mario in her own bathroom.

“Stars,” she murmured to herself first. Shuffling over to Mario, she found that even if she fixed the way he was sitting, the light and the distance wouldn’t allow her much ease in finding any glass. She had to get him on something higher and under direct light. Her eyes fell to her counter. “Hey, Mario?”

He stirred when she called for him, her voice delicate. “Mm.” he responded. At first, Peach was afraid that was all she would get from him. But as she knelt down, she saw his knee shift and his eyes squint at her. He pushed against the tank of the toilet. Like he was trying to sit up. “Prin—Princess.”

She didn’t bother trying to control the urge to reach out and rest her hand on his arm. “Hey there,” she said gently. “I need to get you up on my counter so I can help you. Think you can stand?”

The poor man looked like he was just about ready to fall asleep. But he pushed himself up until he was sitting on his own. It was so strange. As Peach stood and prepared herself to help him support his weight, she couldn’t help but notice the juxtaposition of her bodyguard in her quaint little bathroom. The row of lotions and perfumes on her shelf, the little heart-shaped glass box she used for jewelry. All the little pink knick knacks she had collected over the course of the semester. And then there was him. His more practical attire, worn denim, his work boots and his mustache. She wondered if he ever thought he’d find himself in a woman’s bathroom, and briefly felt embarrassed about what he might think about her bedroom.

But she couldn’t be thinking about that. There were more pressing matters. “There you go,” she held her arms up in case Mario needed help, but he could stand mostly on his own by that point. He shifted over to the counter and rested his weight on the white granite. For a moment, he breathed, and Peach took his pause to touch his back in case he needed a push.

He only needed a small hop to get his hips over the counter. She’d seen him jump heights several times greater than her own, but somehow this little hop was turning out to be the most stressful feat of his she’d witnessed.

With a huff of breath, Mario managed to heave himself up and sit on the counter. He wasn’t sure where to put his hands. Peach guided him until he was able to relax, before she stood back to assess his head. “Okay,” she said, as he blinked into the bright light. “Could you tilt your head down for me a little bit?”

Mario brought his head down a little too far. Unable to hold back a slight giggle, Peach carefully reached to tilt his chin back up, just enough to where she could see the top of his head. 

“How are you feeling?” she asked, as she started gently prodding around his head. Right away, she found a piece of glass. She thought to grab a paper towel to set on the counter next to where he was sitting to set the pieces down.

He took in a big breath. “Tired.” he mumbled. He said something else that Peach wasn’t quite able to catch, but before she could ask, he spoke up in a more lucid tone and said “Don’t...Don’t cut your hand.”

Ah. She realized what he meant as her fingers grazed another glass shard. Her chest felt warm at his capacity for concern in his state. “Of course. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be very careful.” she told him, carefully removing the piece. She hoped he couldn’t hear the smile in her voice.

Her poor bodyguard. She pursed her lips as she continued to feel around his head, moving his hair so she could try and find the cuts. She wished she had greater knowledge of medicine. Perhaps she would pay a visit to her royal physician and ask for some lessons in his craft. That way, if she managed to drag Mario into another stupid political mess, she might be more useful.

Useful. One of her hands dropped to Mario’s arm as she realized he was unconsciously leaning toward her. She had felt, all her life, like her skills were peripheral. There was someone to do everything for her. Not once in her life did she ever have to worry about fixing a lightbulb or cleaning her own clothing or cooking her own food, at least until she convinced her father to let her go to University. A Princess apparently had more important duties to attend to, but she was slowly finding more and more often that her duties weren’t exactly real. At least, not to her citizens.

It didn’t matter what the Princess was doing to any of her neighbors. Any of her fellow students. It didn’t even matter to Mario before they’d formally met, though she’d known about him from before because of her friendship with Pauline, and it was impossible for him to go on without at least knowing her name. The point was, the Princess was merely a figure in the eyes of a typical Mushroom Kingdom resident. Sure, she could theorize all the policy she wanted. But what did that matter when someone lived in an unhappy home? When someone was unable to afford tuition for MKU? When someone got a beer bottle smashed on their head?

People and their problems became significantly more real to Peach once she became a student. Daisy, of course, had pulled it off years before her and was ahead of her by quite a bit. That was how she and Luigi had met. Before, when she had just started classes. Peach stuck out like a sore thumb with her tiara and brooch. It was Daisy who taught her to let go of tradition and embrace anonymity. Daisy was loud, she wasn’t afraid to laugh, or be herself. Peach just hadn’t quite gotten there yet.

She wanted to be more to the people around her. Not just some stuck up Princess whose intellect only extended as far as the theoretical realm, or whose value only extended to sitting pretty. She wanted to do more than fit in, like Daisy had managed. She wanted to be important. Really, truly important. And she wanted others to be important to her.

Pauline and Rosalina were gifts. It was a miracle that her father allowed her to make friends with them so long ago. Daisy made sense; Daisy was royalty. But Pauline was the daughter of a senator of a nearby state and Rosalina had some esoteric connection to the Mushroom Kingdom that Peach had never quite learned. For a long time, they were all she had. Her only connection to the real world.

But, because Pauline and Rosalina existed in the real world, and Daisy had long escaped into it, they found it much harder to understand her desire. They thought she was merely naive for wanting to speak with so many strangers. To hear all their stories. That was why her first meeting with Mario was when she was drunk; Pi Koopa Alpha had tricked her into coming to a party and had given her a drink, surely with nasty intentions. Her feud with Bowser had existed for a while, but the fraternity was unknown to her. It was Mario’s quick thinking that got her out of that situation. Daisy liked to say that he “pulled another Jumpman.”

That was why she proposed to hire him as her bodyguard all those months ago. Her father would have pulled her from the University otherwise. So, asking Mario to set aside his studies and guard her was really a selfish decision.

Pi Koopa Alpha may have succeeded in pushing all of her buttons and doing everything they could to drive her away, but Peach knew there was more to the world than creepy fraternities and stranger danger and all the things that everyone constantly warned her about. She was growing sick of being told to “be careful!” all the time, every minute of every day of her life. There was so much more to the world than the risks.

Like Mario.

She paused in her search for glass to bend her knees just a little bit, just enough for her to stand back up and allow Mario’s forehead to rest on her shoulder. She wrapped her arms around him and pressed her cheek into his temple. “Oh, Mario.” she breathed. “I’m sorry that I got you into this.”

He must have been dozing again. He mumbled something that she couldn’t hear. Peach felt her heart skip a beat when his hands responded and rested briefly around her waist.

Mario was just a Civil Engineering student at MKU before he met her. Not a man who ever thought he might end up being the primary bodyguard for his own monarch. He and Luigi had to work for every penny that they earned, and she noticed they were constantly on the prowl for scholarship applications to help mitigate the cost of going to school. Every day, every moment they were dedicated to their studies and their work. She’d never met anyone like them, though she knew their story was not at all unique. Not after meeting several of her peers as the semester progressed. She was the outlier.

She had known about Mario from before, though not by name. Pauline used to tell the story all the time. The Jumpman. Peach had never been certain how real the story was, but she used to love hearing the tale of how the Jumpman scaled a construction site and fought a gorilla just to save Pauline, a woman he’d never met before in his life. The story entranced her because she thought she’d love to meet someone like the Jumpman. A true hero. Pauline apparently befriended him after the whole incident, as well as his brother.

While she was daydreaming of the Jumpman, her friends actually got to meet him. Pauline used to help Daisy sneak out on calm nights, and one of those outings was how she met Luigi. They hit it off instantly, and no one was surprised when they eventually decided to get into a relationship. A relationship that was currently a little over a year old. Luigi was, consequently, one of the first people that Peach became friends with once she started at MKU. He frequented their apartment and sometimes spent the night with Daisy. But despite how often they asked him, Luigi always said that Mario was too busy studying to pay a visit.

Peach was told that Mario was quite stressed back then and didn’t get out very much. So not even Pauline knew him very well.

At least, not until Peach found herself in that mess with the party at the fraternity house. A few members of Pi Koopa Alpha were part of Mario’s study group, and they’d invited him along to that same party. He hadn’t wanted to go. But it was a good thing that he decided to in the end. Peach vaguely remembered how she trusted him instantly, the moment she saw him. Her cheeks burned at the memory. She had told him something about the water tasting funny, and the next thing she knew, Mario had accidentally flung her glass across the room. He had panicked at the time. But ultimately, he got her to the safety of her apartment. No scandalous news broke, and no one got hurt.

A few more things happened that night that she didn’t want to dwell on. But ultimately, if not for her mistake all those months ago, Mario would not have become so well acquainted with her or her roommates. He still would have been a mystery to them all that Peach may never have been able to track down.

It was a rare thing for someone to be even better than the pedestal you create for them. Mario was, over the brief time she had known him, easily surpassing everything she’d ever dreamed about the Jumpman.

And now he was hurt. 

She asked so much of him. So damn much. Sure, he worked for the state and got a much better salary than he expected. He seemed more or less pleased with the opportunity, though it had taken some time to convince him. Being her bodyguard meant that he had to be with her for several hours out of the day. That meant occasionally missing class if she had to go to her castle to attend to royal matters. That meant putting his studies and his grades, on which his scholarships and financial aid depended, at a lower level of priority than her safety. That meant that his social life was now just her social life. The social life of a Princess wasn’t exactly as glamorous as one might think.

It meant that when she decided to hunt down a fraternity, like Pi Koopa Alpha, to shut down their little conflict once and for all, that he was the one to take the blow.

She wondered, as she carefully picked the last little shard that she could find, if Mario would be angry with her. Maybe not directly; she hardly ever knew what he was really thinking. But what if he silently resented her for her immaturity? She was a work in progress, but he was fully socialized into the real world and likely knew better than to try and resolve issues the way she tried to. If she’d asked him, he probably would have told her to let it be. Instead, she’d jumped the gun.

Roy always had his eye on Mario. She was told before that Roy was looking for a fight, and despite all of their provocations and verbal attacks to her and himself, Mario had never once lost control of his temper. He’d gotten close. But Peach knew that Mario was not the sort to throw the first punch.

He was better than that. He was better than her.

“There you are,” she sighed. “No more glass. Now let me see…” she fumbled opening the first aid kit, and nearly knocked over the little pile of glass she’d collected. She wasn’t quite sure what she was looking for. A bandaid clearly wouldn’t work on his head. But she had to do something about the cuts. Right? Maybe she had to ice it? She’d seen that in a movie before. 

Mario jolted against her. His hands gripped her waist with startling strength for balance. “Ahi,” he muttered. He must have drifted off and started awake. Peach tried to explain her pounding heart with the fact that he startled her as much as he startled himself, but the blush that rose to her cheeks was most definitely due to the placement of his hands.

After a few moments, he must have realized what he was doing. “Prin—Princess, I’m so sorry.” he blinked at her with dazed eyes, and practically tore his hands from her. His voice was still muddled. “That was—was indecent of me. I am very sorry.”

She shook her head and stepped closer. “Don’t worry about it.” she hoped he couldn’t tell that she was breathless. “Here, let me see, um. I have to clean your cuts now. But I don’t…” she picked through the first aid kit, but she wasn’t sure what she was looking for. A cotton ball? She squinted at the soft ball in her hand. Oh, maybe she could use it to work at the cuts. But with what, water?

No, water wasn’t good enough. Peach felt restless, frustrated energy in her hands. She had to be better than this. Think! How did the doctor clean off her knee when she had scraped it, once, as a child…? It was something that stung. But what stings?

Alcohol. She spotted the little bottle. A quick skim of the instructions told her to use it for cleaning wounds. She let out a sigh of relief and put a few drops onto the cotton ball. The sharp smell hit her nose, almost burned in her nostrils. “I can do this,” she muttered to herself.

Reaching up, she parted his hair with one hand and started to dab at his head. Carefully cleaning the cut. She could see he was already developing a bruise. When Mario hissed out of pain, she let her hand drop to rub his shoulder. 

“Easy, easy…” she murmured. She couldn’t imagine what it felt like. Mario didn’t strike her as the sort of person to show when he was in pain. Seeing him squirm made her heart clench. She soothed him as best as she knew how, rubbing his back and whispering soft encouragements, until she’d managed to clean the cuts out as well as she could. There wasn’t much for her to do other than that, she didn’t think.

He was so cute sitting there. Even up on her counter, he still wasn’t quite at her height. Her heart ached for him, the way his brows creased and his shoulders fell inward. At the same time, she felt a sort of ease; she was somehow, barely, capable of taking care of him. This special man who did so much for her. It was her turn to be responsible. He was safe with her.

There was a knock on the bathroom door. “Hey, it’s just me.” Luigi’s voice. “Me and Daisy are getting ready to head to the dorm in a few minutes.”

Peach looked up, but didn’t move away from Mario. “Come in,” she spoke up.

As the door swung open, Peach noticed Luigi make a peculiar face. He was looking at her arm resting on Mario’s shoulders. A questioning glance to her. She hoped she warned him to stay quiet with a tiny shake of her head. “You want me to see if I can help him get started on a shower before I leave?” he asked.

She breathed out. “Oh. Yes, please.”

“Okay.” he moved in just as she backed off. “Okay, Capo, come on. Let’s get up.” he started to help ease Mario off of her counter.

Once she recognized that the conversation was over, Peach stepped out into her bedroom and carefully closed the door. Her thoughts felt cut off. As if she should be doing something, only she forgot what it was. She wanted to help Mario. Of course she did. But she had to let Luigi take care of him; they were brothers, after all. 

Before she could make up her mind on what she should do, Daisy found her still staring at the door. “Hey girlie,” she said, and Peach jumped. “What’re you thinkin’ about?”

Peach combed a strand of hair behind her ear. They both glanced to the door as they heard the water begin running from her bathroom. “Oh. I don’t know, I just…” she wrung her hands and looked at the floor. “I wish I knew how to help.”

Giving her a sympathetic look, Daisy held up her arm. Peach followed her out and kept her head down as Daisy led her back into the living room. She heard water boiling on the stove. When she breathed deep, she could smell chamomile and lavender.

“Hello, dear. How is he?” Pauline looked up and smiled. Rosalina moved aside to make room as Peach and Daisy came among them.

She shrugged and tried not to smile when Daisy nudged her. “Oh, well, I think he’ll be okay.” she murmured. “I just wish that there was more I could do…”

Daisy put her arm over her shoulders with a cheeky look. “You know, I always hear that a kiss has the power to heal anything,” she teased, and laughed when Peach’s face flushed.

“I’m not going to kiss him.” She pinched the bridge of her nose and feigned an exasperated sigh. Trying to make it sound ridiculous. She had a feeling that she only reinforced the notion.

Pauline nudged her from her other side. “You want to, though.” she snickered and exchanged a glance with Rosalina. Peach got the feeling that they had discussed something about her earlier, and felt her cheeks grow hotter. She had never been able to hide anything from her friends. They all had a conspiring look amongst one another. They knew something, or they were planning something, she wasn’t sure.

Rosalina offered a soothing smile. “You are confused. It’s natural.” she hummed.

Natural? Peach frowned and tilted her head. Before she could ask, she heard a clattering behind her.

They all turned to see Luigi stumble into the living area. “Ahi, Peach.” he rubbed the back of his head, and gestured vaguely behind him, in the direction of her room. “Can I— can I talk to you?”

Peach blinked at him for a moment, before she realized he meant that he only wanted to speak with her. Daisy shared a teasing murmur with the other girls before nudging her forward. Her stride stiff, she followed Luigi back into her bedroom, eyes wide.

“Is everything okay?” she asked, cautiously. The water was still running. Mario must be showering now. She tried to quickly quell the thought that he had no clothes on, but she couldn’t quite manage to quit blushing. She fiddled with her doorknob and looked at the floor, avoiding Luigi’s eyes and the bathroom door.

With a soft sigh, Luigi nodded. “Yes. Well, I mean, it’s complicated. I just wanted to warn you…” he winced, and she glanced to him as he looked at the ceiling. Searching for words. “Ehm, I just wanted to warn you. When people get hit in the head, they sometimes, they sometimes lose control of their emotions. Hysteria, it is a common symptom of concussion.” he gave a pensive frown to the bathroom door.

Hysteria. She’d heard the word, but she’d never known it to be an actual medical term. “Oh,” she murmured. “You mean, Mario, he’s not…”

“Stable. Not now. It’s hard for him.” Luigi supplied for her. “I just want you to be prepared. He doesn’t like it. He would rather be alone than let anyone see him like this. But he trusts you, and I know you want to help him. So I don’t want you to be surprised if you go to see him and he is more, ah, emotional than usual.” his voice lowered to a near whisper. Intending only for her to hear.

She gave a grave nod. “Okay. I understand.” At the back of her mind, she wondered why everyone seemed to be pushing her in Mario’s direction. The girls, teasing her about wanting to kiss him. And Luigi, providing her with such intimate information. She forgot the thought when they both heard something fall in her bathroom. A bottle of shampoo, probably. 

Luigi gave an awkward laugh. “I have to go. Me and Daisy, we’ll be back. I’ll bring him clothes. She wants to pick up dinner too, so it may take awhile. You can always call if you need something.” he started out of her room, and Peach moved out of the way for him.

“Alright!” she answered, startled by his sudden departure. “Uh, good luck! I’ll do my best.”

He grinned. He seemed relaxed. “I know.” he backed off and disappeared with a wave. Soon after, she heard the goodbyes from the girls from down the hall, and the front door open and close.

Okay. Peach let out a breath. Now Mario’s wellbeing really was in her hands. As much as she desired the responsibility, she realized all at once that it was more than she’d probably ever had to handle before. How does one look after a whole entire person?

She decided to just stand there. She didn’t want to leave in case he needed something. Her body felt too antsy to sit down. So she listened to the water run, and absentmindedly brought out her phone to flick through. Pass the time. Something, anything to do with her hands so she didn’t feel like she was wasting nervous energy.

News. Nothing she wasn’t aware of already. Another proposal for MKU to rename their institution failed. An ongoing investigation in a former political official had found incriminating evidence of corruption, though he’d been removed from his position long before Peach had even been born. Someone had reported a strange object flying over the castle. Peach decided that the local journalists must be running out of material if they were already resorting to conspiracy theories at that point of the week.

Slowly, Peach lowered her phone. Something wasn’t quite right. She clicked off her phone and squinted at her bathroom door. The noise, the water running. It was constant.

She should have been hearing the flow of water change as Mario moved under it. She should have heard footsteps, or anything besides the steady stream of water from her shower. Her heart caught in her chest. She thought to close the door to her bedroom before she approached the bathroom.

“Mario?” she called out, knocking on the door. “Are you alright in there?”

Peach waited a few moments. Only the continuous water answered her.

She took in a sharp breath and knocked again. “Mario? Is everything okay?” she tried to raise her voice, thinking that there was a possibility that he couldn’t hear her. But the water flow from her shower wasn’t so loud. A small rush of panic went through her chest. Her voice raised a pitch with uncertainty. “Um, Mario, I’m coming in.”

Gripping the doorknob, she turned it carefully and prepared to shield her eyes with her other hand. She didn’t want to startle him. But she also couldn’t just accept his lack of response. 

It took a couple of moments to work up the nerve to keep pushing the door open. The room was getting a little humid with the hot water from the shower. Upon hearing no scandalized shout, or sudden protest, Peach finally peeked inside.

He was there. Fully clothed, sitting on the edge of her bath, with his face in his hands.

“Mario,” she gasped. In an instant, she shut the door behind her and went to him. She dropped to one knee on the cold tile of the floor and hesitated to reach for him. “Oh, stars, Mario, what’s the matter? Are you alright?”

Abruptly, as she touched his shoulder, she realized he was wet. As if he had stepped into her shower without getting undressed. His shirt and his boots dripped water on the floor. She frowned as she noticed that Mario’s body was shivering. Biting her lip, she couldn’t decide if it was because he was cold or because he was in pain. 

He let out a shaky breath. He moved in such a way that Peach recognized that he was shaking his head. The answer was no. He wasn’t alright. She felt her throat run dry. 

Before she could control her instinct, she reached up to touch one of his hands. Her thumb traced along his knuckles a couple of times in what she hoped was a soothing gesture. Then, she wrapped her fingers around his palm and tried to ease his hand away from his face. He resisted.

“Hey, it’s okay.” she said, gently, hoping Mario wouldn’t pay attention to the edge of panic in her voice. “I know it hurts, but please, let me help you. It’s going to be okay. I promise.”

Only at the soft prompting of her words did he allow her to take his hand. She quickly wound her fingers through his and gave him a reassuring squeeze. He kept his head low, so she couldn’t make out his expression very well. But she could see the crease of his brows and the way he was breathing in uneven, quiet huffs. She pursed her lips.

Her heart went out for him. The shaky way he moved, and the way he barely carried himself, she thought if she asked him to stand then he might have a great deal of difficulty. He likely would have been stuck sitting there for a lot longer if she hadn’t come to see what was wrong. The pain, she couldn’t imagine. The pain must be so bad that he literally couldn’t move. She shifted up on both knees and went for his other hand. But instead of looking at his face, she took him into her arms in a careful embrace. She didn’t care that her clothes became soaked at the front by pressing him into her. “What happened?” she murmured the question to him, one hand rubbing up and down his back in a steady motion.

She tried not to think about how his trembling hands found their way around her waist. Returning her embrace. Her heart pounded with the thrill combined with the doubt and fear that she felt for him. 

“The— the water.” he finally mumbled into her shoulder. She wanted to squeeze him tighter at the sound of his voice, so strangled and thick with pain. “Hurt—hurts. Hurts my head.”

Ah. So he’d managed to step into her shower, albeit in his disoriented state with his clothes on, and found that he couldn’t go on with it. So he sat himself down, cold and miserable and hurting and shaking. She could imagine the water streaming down right on top of his head would be painful. 

She breathed out, amazed and frightened by the feeling of him in her arms. This precious man who gave so much for her. His strength, his time. It was his job, his sworn duty, to protect her with his life. His steady, unwavering presence by her side gave her a degree of security unlike any other guard or soldier was capable of. And now, the body that she held close to her was vulnerable. Fragile. The shuddering breath he took in was painful to listen to. And she knew at once that she absolutely owed it to him to give him the security that he provided her with day after day. More than that, she wanted to do whatever she could in her power to provide him with it.

The question was how exactly to do that. How does one make a bodyguard feel safe?

Mario was the pillar. Not just to her, but to everyone around him, he was the listening ear, the helping hand. That was his role in the grand scheme of things, the role he often was delegated. How was she supposed to help someone like that? How could she let him know that he did have someone he could turn to when he could no longer stand up and be the pillar?

She set her jaw. She would be his pillar. One way or another. Reaching behind him, she turned the knob of her shower so that the lower faucet began running instead and plugged the drain. “I have an idea.” she eased back from him, but kept one hand resting behind his head. He avoided her eyes. “I’ll run a bath. I’ll help you, alright? See, I’ll wash your head and get those cuts cleaned up for you. All you have to do is help me get your clothes off and sit down in the tub.”

Mario recoiled a slight amount. But that amount was enough for him to nearly lose his balance. Peach’s heart skipped a beat as her arms shot out to steady him. Once she was sure he was steady on the edge of the tub again, she went down to start untying the laces of his boots.

“But? But that is— that is— whoah—!” Mario tried to protest, she could tell by his tone. But when she suddenly pulled off his boot, he was the one to reach out for her to make sure he didn’t fall. His hands went for her shoulders. The conflict in his wide eyes, she could read it easily. Panic, fear, confusion. And pain. “Is indecent. I’m sorry. A bath, is indecent. I can’t.” he squinted, like the lights were hurting his eyes.

She gave one of his hands a small squeeze, as he didn’t seem able to sit back up away from her without help. So he had to wait for her to finish getting his other boot off. His expression, his eyes were fixed on her with a look of bewildered shame.

The look of someone so unused to needing help. He must feel painfully vulnerable, so she tried to offer an understanding smile. “I can’t let you go to bed like this. You’re cold and you’re shaking, and I know it hurts. I want to help you. You need a bath, and then you need some rest.” She raised herself up again to meet his eyes. Her tone was lowering into something she didn’t recognize, a voice she had hardly ever heard herself use before. Commanding, but soft. “Here, let’s get this off...”

Steadying him from his shoulder, she moved off to his side so that she could lift the hem of his shirt. Mario hesitated, his hands trying to take her place. “I am not a child,” he mumbled, grumpily.

Peach had to try really hard not to smile. There was no bite in his voice. Just embarrassment. “I know you’re not.” she conceded, and merely braced her arm around his back while he went through the arduous process of getting his shirt over his head. The wet fabric stuck to his skin and made it at least twice as difficult for him. “In fact, you’re the strongest person I know.”

Once he’d finally wrestled the shirt off, Peach took it from him and set it on the floor by his boots. Her plan was expanding, trying to account for everything. She’d have to wash all of his clothes. Luckily, she remembered that Daisy had just finished her laundry earlier, so there should be nothing in the wash.

Mario sighed and looked at his belt. “Not now.” he answered her with a soft voice.

Shaking her head, Peach made a move to stand and offered her support to help him get up. She kept a careful grip on his elbows. “Yes you are. Always,” she told him. He got to his feet, unsteady on his own, but at least upright with her there.

She politely averted her eyes while he pulled out his belt and struggled to undo his fly. The water was nearly ready. A glance into the tub told her that she should shut off the water soon. She wished she had thought to check the temperature, but her focus had been completely on Mario. His skin was warm to the touch despite how he was shuddering. 

Her face flushed. She’d never seen him without a shirt on. Even when they’d all gone out swimming, Mario often preferred to keep covered up in some way. So, not wanting to put any more pressure on him, she opted to keep her eyes off of him as much as possible.

Though her hands rested only around his back, she could feel the way his muscles moved. The strength that he had hidden away from view. Her cheeks burned.

A chill suddenly moved through him, all the way from his shoulders down his back. She could feel him freeze up and shake. Peach tightened her grip on him just enough to where she hoped some of her natural body heat would be offered to him. “Oof,” he muttered, once he was finally able to move his hands again. She didn’t watch him, but she could feel his weight shift against her as he stepped out of his pants and socks.

He turned toward the bath. Peach glanced at the floor to see what clothes were there and gathered he still had his underwear on. Somehow, she was grateful for his modesty. She wasn’t sure how well she’d be able to help him if she couldn’t look at him. She’d never had to help someone bathe before. And, gathering from his general demeanor, he’d never had to have anyone help him either.

Realizing they were both feeling similarly helped put Peach at ease, in a strange way. She wanted to help Mario feel less ashamed about the situation he was in, and that took the focus off of her own awkwardness. They both turned to face the daunting task of getting him in the tub.

“Easy, okay. I’ve got you,” she murmured, taking his hands and lending her support from behind. One foot in. He didn’t waver at all, probably because she wasn’t letting him rush. The other foot in. They stopped, taking time to let him find his balance. The water splashed a bit as she helped Mario ease down, and they both let out a breath of relief once he was in. 

Mario had a suddenly calm look. His skin was rosy from the humidity and the warm water. His cheeks and his shoulders. Peach smiled and turned the water off. “Feels nice,” he said, closing his eyes for a brief moment.

With a small chuckle, Peach nodded. “I’ll bet it does, sweet pea.” she agreed.

She froze as she realized she’d let an endearment slip. Swallowing hard, she reminded herself what she needed to be doing, and got up from beside the tub to grab her cup off of the counter. Hopefully Mario hadn’t noticed or heard her completely.

He took in a long breath. Finally allowing himself to relax a little. Her heart soared. “Sweet. Sweet, sweet pea. Sweet Peach.” he said to himself. 

Peach felt the heat rise in her face with more potency than before. She had to assume the warmth of the water had caused Mario to lose some sort of verbal filter. He continued to speak in disjointed variations of phrases. They must be moving through his head, so he was just narrating a stream of thoughts. “Sweet as a Pea. The, the Princess and the Pea. Pea Peach. The Pea and the Peach. Princess Peach.”

Going for her shampoo, Peach decided to act as if she couldn’t hear him. Perhaps he wasn’t even aware that he was speaking out loud. She squeezed some soap onto her hand and rubbed until it was frothy with bubbles. “Here,” she offered a gentle warning before she reached up and put her hands on his head. “Stay still…”

She realized after a moment that his hair was too dry. Quickly, she picked up her cup and dipped it into the water to fill it. 

“Close your eyes.” she told him. Just as he obeyed her, she tipped the cup with careful precision to pour the water on his head. Slowly, not like the shower and not too fast. The water ran through his hair, dripped onto his face, neck, and shoulders. Peach watched the shining droplets map out his skin.

Once his hair was wet enough, run straight and plastered to his head, she set the cup down and went back to him with her soapy hands. He took in a sharp breath as she grazed across the bump on top of his head. Just a huff, she hadn’t hurt him. She sighed with relief. Reintroducing her touch, she began to use her fingers to massage the soap into his scalp, and took great care to keep her movements steady and light.

His eyebrows twitched. Eyes still closed. “Oh,” he suddenly let out a quiet groan as she went closer to his neck. His muscles were taut with stress, she realized. It must feel nice to have someone’s warm hands going over all of that tension.

The corner of her mouth inched up into a slight smile, just from watching him. His breaths lengthened and became more constant. Soothed. The bath really was doing him some good.

She took several minutes just rubbing the shampoo into every inch of his head. She was very careful at the top; with the tips of her fingers, she could feel the hardening bruise and the tiny little cuts that she had cleaned before, and knew it had to feel very tender. But he didn’t give her any further indication that she was causing him pain in some way. Instead, he was very still, and his arms that had been held closely to his sides gradually relaxed until he was finally genuinely resting in the tub.

Once his hair was all white and lathered so thick that she could make it stand up if she wanted, she went to pick another one of her soaps. A body wash. She felt a little bad; he was apparently going to smell like wild honeysuckle after all this. But she got the sense that gendered scents didn’t matter too much to him at a time like this, or in general.

She hesitated to place her hands on his back. Mario seemed to be in some sort of eased trance, and didn’t react at first, at least until she started to rub the soap into his upper back in small circles.

“Mm,” he gave a clumsy jolt. Realizing what she was doing. “I—I can do that.” His cheeks had gone a dark shade of pink, and Peach felt that her face must look a similar color as she showed him where her soap was.

While he started to work on soaping himself up, Peach thought about returning her hands to his neck. He was awfully stiff. After deliberating for a few moments, she reached up and began to work her thumbs on his shoulders and the back of his neck. She had to bite back a smile at the way he instantly slowed. Just as he had gotten started washing his arms.

Knowing him, she assumed the sheer tightness she felt was not merely a result of getting his head smashed earlier. Stress like this had to accumulate over time. She decided right then and there, regardless of how Mario felt, that she was going to arrange for him to get his shoulders rubbed out more often. Whether she would have the professionals at her castle do it, or if she had to do it herself. She glanced down to see the way his entire body seemed to slump with a new calm. And, she decided she especially wouldn’t mind if she had to do it herself.

Her hands were awkward. She didn’t know what part of his muscles that she had to loosen, or where she should be concentrating her effort, but even her beginner’s effort at a massage was better than nothing. She kept up her work for a few more minutes.

In that time, her hands had begun to ache, and Mario had apparently stopped trying to focus. She felt herself smile. Once she stopped, he came back to life little by little. His hands shifted. He reached to rest his forearm on the edge of the tub to try and sit back up again. His eyes opened and he took in a long, deep breath. If she had kept going, perhaps she might have put him to sleep. The thought made her heart soft.

He gave her a sideways glance. “...Thank you.” he hesitated to say. His voice was so low that she almost didn’t hear him. She merely smiled and shook her head. No trouble at all.

The tub water was only just beginning to cool down. Peach watched as Mario got started washing himself again, in smoother movements than before. He wasn’t quite at full capacity; she noticed he had some difficulty squeezing the soap out of the bottle, but she recognized that he wanted to do it himself and didn’t try to take it for him. His eyes clouded with a pleasant, sleepy haze. He would be able to sleep soundly.

While he was busy, Peach looked up at his hair. Still all bubbly with soap. She got a sneaky thought, and, before she could help herself, she reached up and started to comb his hair with her fingers. Using both her palms, she pressed upward to arrange his hair into a mohawk.

Mario glanced to her at the sound of her proud giggle. “Hmm?” With one hand, he carefully patted around the top of his head, though stalled and shaky, to feel what she had done to him. At his confounded grin, Peach had to duck away to hide her laughter. “Oh,” he realized with a weak chuckle.

Peach looked at Mario, and he looked at her. She could see that he was trying to hold back, too. Just looking at him with a goofy, soapy mohawk was too funny. They both burst out laughing.

At that moment, looking at him shake his head as his shoulders trembled with mirth, Peach realized that she had never seen Mario truly laugh before. Not like this. He’d never let himself in front of her. She tilted her head and watched him with awe. The sound of his amusement, so precious and rare, was a sound she knew right away that she could not forget.

Until he stopped. Mario choked on something in his throat, and froze. The bathroom fell quiet. The water in the tub sloshed against the wall as Mario went to cover his mouth with his hands.

“S—sorry.” he muttered, and lowered his head until his expression was out of her sight. His shoulders continued to shake, though no longer out of laughter. Startled, Peach reached for him, though hesitated to touch. 

She didn’t understand. “Mario?” she asked him, softly. And then it hit her. What Luigi was trying to say. The concussion, the hysteria. He didn’t have control over his emotions. The laughter, then, was an overreaction. That thought stung a little bit; the first time she’d heard Mario laugh, and it wasn’t quite genuine. Or it was a little too genuine for him to handle at the moment. But that didn’t matter. Peach bit her lip and surveyed him, though he had turned his face away from her. 

The reaction might have been too much. If laughter was one extreme on the pendulum, then he must have swung the other way. He made that tense choking sound again. Peach blinked, horrified, as she realized that he was trying to shove down a sob.

“Oh, Mario. Oh, sweetheart. It’s okay, come here…” Before she knew what she was doing, Peach shifted up on her knees and leaned toward him over the lip of the tub. The front of her shirt became cold and damp as she pressed against him. The ends of her ponytail fell partially in the water. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders with firm resolve, as if she could hold him hard enough to still the shaky, gasping breaths he started to take in. “It’s okay. Oh stars, my sweet Mario. It’s okay. Just breathe.”

He didn’t resist her. Or he just couldn’t physically resist her. Peach wasn’t sure which one it was. The embrace was too much for him all at once, and she felt his entire body quiver with the sheer effort he was using to try and restrain himself. It wasn’t working. His hands failed to cover his eyes or restrain the muffled, heartbreaking noise that rose up from deep in his throat.

Peach let out a soft sigh and felt her own eyes start to sting at the sound. “I know, I know. It’s okay.” she started to whisper to him over and over again. Her voice had become hard to control. “I’m here. I’ve got you. I’m not going to let you go, I promise. It’s going to be okay.”

Shuddering, Mario finally lowered his hands from his face. His breathing had become erratic. But he responded somehow, allowing himself to rest against her. His hands got a weak grip of her arm; a silent plea not to let go. Peach didn’t think she could even if she wanted to. She pressed her face against his wet hair close to his temple. All she could hear was their breathing and the water moving around as he adjusted to her. His skin was flushed with heat.

She could smell him. Even through the slick soap and the shampoo, she knew his scent. From the times that he carried her away from danger. Sweeping her off her feet. Standing before her to take the blow. He smelled like warmth and comfort. 

Out of anger to the ones who had hurt him and to herself for putting him in that position, out of a rush of fondness for him that had never risen up in her chest so strongly before, she continued to hold him tight and whisper words that she wasn’t sure anyone had ever told him before. She needed him to know, and she needed herself to know that she could give him solace. 

It occurred to her, as she sat there cradling him in the tub, that they both needed this. Her knees and her back started to ache from her awkward position, but she gave no mind.

She would sit there for him all night if it would help him even a little bit.

It took several minutes for him to calm down again. But he did, and Peach felt a wonderful wave of pride and relief that she managed to help him get there. His breathing came softer, and though his eyes still shone in the light, he didn’t try to hide from her. They were both past the point of embarrassment, then. Mario stared off into space. Stewing in silent shame.

Without a word, Peach extracted herself and felt around for her cup. The water was lukewarm at that point, but Mario didn’t seem like he was losing too much heat. A mild calm had come over him that Peach was very familiar with. She wondered when the last time he allowed himself to release his emotions was. If he’d ever allowed it at all. Watching him experience that, perhaps for the first time in too long, had a cathartic effect on Peach as well. She started to gather water in her cup and pour it over him to wash the soap away. He closed his eyes for her as she rinsed out the shampoo.

Cup by cup, the water flowed down his hair, his face. Peach went through his hair one last time with her fingers just to make sure she’d rinsed it completely. Once she was satisfied, she sat back on her heels and looked for a towel. “Alright now, let’s get you out of there.” she made a move to get up. “Do you think you can stand?”

Mario looked up at her, mostly attentive. He nodded. But, he turned back to the tub, and hesitated. His light sigh told her that he wasn’t fully prepared for the effort.

Before Peach could kneel back down to try and help him, Mario rocked back and forth a couple of times for momentum. That way, he was able to shift up. He managed to get his weight on his feet. Balance was the only issue he hadn’t anticipated as he tried to come to a stand, but Peach’s arm shot to his back before he could stumble. “Whew. Okay, good. Now let’s step out on the mat…” she hoped her voice didn’t give away how her heart was pounding. 

She hadn’t been careful where she was looking. The instant she noticed his red polka-dot boxers, dripping with water, Peach whipped her head up to look at the ceiling instead. 

Mario let her guide him out, his hands on her elbows for balance. He gripped harder when he was shaky and relaxed when he was steady. Peach stepped back until she heard him step onto the mat with both feet, and carefully pulled her arms from out of his grasp. Though, she stopped as soon as their hands touched and took a moment to squeeze his for reassurance. The towel was draped across her forearm. She unfolded it and pulled it around his shoulders.

Once Mario could hold the towel on his own, Peach felt safer glancing down to him. The fluffy pink towel practically dwarfed him, and he looked up at her with those big blue eyes of his that always caused her heart to skip a beat.

“Oh!” In searching for an excuse to look away before he could notice she was blushing, she found her hand towel. “Here, I’ll try to dry your hair a bit. Stand still…”

She was feeling cold from her shirt being wet. Mario tried to stand steady for her, but she could see he was still wavering as she went over his head with the towel. She had never tried to dry short hair before; she was used to just wrapping her head up for a little while and then letting her long, wavy hair dry out naturally, but she didn’t want him to go to bed cold. As she gently grasped his hair within the towel to get most of the water out, she noticed his curls beginning to form again. She took special care around the top of his head.

The air was beginning to get a little too chilly, and Peach realized both of them were suppressing shivers. “Okay,” she said as she deemed his hair dry enough. It wasn’t dripping anymore, in any case. She tried not to show how fascinated she was with his curly hair. “I’m going to step out and turn the bed down for you. There are some clothes here on the counter for you here. I’ll be right outside the door if you need anything, okay?” she glanced down at him.

He gave a dazed nod, standing there all wrapped up in her towel. Peach had to resist an overwhelming urge to gather him up and just cradle him in her arms for a little while. She had to leave him alone, and had to let him have space. Judging by his wary silence, he must still be feeling mildly mortified about coming so close to openly crying in front of her.

She hoped his qualms wouldn’t keep him from asking her for help if he needed it. With one last small smile, she left him to kneel down by the tub to open the plug so the bathwater could drain, before she went to the door. One last time, she looked at him. Just before she closed the door. She felt as if she was stranding him once the knob clicked shut.

For the first few moments, she hovered close to the door. Listening. She heard him shuffling; he was getting dressed; the sound of wet clothes on the floor and rustling told her so. So, she backed off. He needed time as well.

Her air conditioner came on. Peach looked down abruptly at herself as cold air blew through her, and she remembered her shirt was wet. In a slight rush, she hopped into her closet to change into her pajamas and had just tied the waistband of her robe when she got back in front of the bathroom door. 

Luigi had advised her to set up a place to sleep in the living room. When she wasn’t listening to Mario, she could hear Pauline and Rosalina having a conversation out there. But Peach was too nervous to step out even for an instant. What if Mario fell? What if she got so distracted that Mario ended up stuck in there for much longer than he was before? Before she did anything else, she had to make sure that she got him to bed. Once he was asleep, perhaps she could relax. 

Though, Peach already got the feeling that she would be worrying too much to sleep very much herself.

The shuffling stopped after a few minutes. Peach tilted her head. She could hear Mario let out a breath and the distinct sound of the toilet seat. Mario must have sat down. To rest or to wait, she wasn’t sure. She raised her hand to knock. “Hey, can I come in?”

His lack of immediate response made her blood run cold, but she soon made out an affirmative sound. He might have said “yes,” or used another word, but he had spoken too quietly for her to be sure. 

When she opened the door, she found him sitting on her toilet again. He’d gotten the sweats on and was peering up at her with a sleepy look. “I’m sorry that we don’t have a shirt for you,” she approached him and went for his back to help him stand. He rose, unsteady at first, but was forced to lean into her. Now that he was mostly dry, his skin was back to being hot to the touch. Peach had to fight back a startling impulse to touch every inch of his back and shoulders, and instead kept only one hand on him as she started to lead him out of the bathroom.

As Mario trudged his way out, Peach glanced around and noticed that Mario had folded his wet clothing and placed them over the edge of the tub. Touched, Peach almost had to cover her mouth. Even in his disoriented state, Mario managed to be so considerate. He probably didn’t try to hang his clothes up to dry because he couldn’t; Peach noted the height and the difficulty even she had at times when she was trying to fix her shower curtain. So, he did the next best thing and laid them out.

The poor thing. Mario bumped into her and said something like a startled apology, and Peach saw that his eyelids were drooping. He needed sleep.

“Here, right over here.” she had to guide him away from her door and back to her bed. Offhandedly, she wondered if Mario had believed he was going to have to make the trip all the way back home before he would be able to sleep.

Mario stopped before she could get him to climb up onto the mattress. He rubbed his eye. “This is...This is your bed.” he murmured. Like she was making some mistake.

She nodded and tried not to smile. “I’m aware.” she told him gently. “Now go on; you need some sleep.”

He continued to stand there, frowning and squinting to try and make sense of her bed. Peach went for his shoulders; for half a moment, she worried that Mario would doze off right then and there. Luckily, he remained conscious, and as soon as his footing was steady again, he made a reluctant move to climb into bed.

Peach went to peel back the sheets, the comforter, and arranged the pillows all before he had gotten one knee on the mattress. Little by little, he turned himself until he was sitting. He wasn’t having nearly as much difficulty maneuvering as he had before; at that point, Peach figured his lagging pace was more due to exhaustion than pain or dizziness.

Just as Mario was about to lay down, with Peach adjusting the blankets around him, there was a knock on her bedroom door.

She looked up over her shoulder. Mario propped himself up on his elbow to see. “Come in!” she called.

Pauline and Rosalina slid into the room, with careful steps, before they spotted Mario and relaxed. “Oh, there you are, dear.” Pauline gave a warm laugh. “Here, we brought you both some tea.”

Peach’s eyes lit up. Tea sounded so wonderful. The soothing scent washed over her as Rosalina brought her a mug. Chamomile. Glancing to Mario as Pauline helped him sit up enough to handle his own mug, Peach smiled and thought the warm beverage would do him some good. She couldn’t help but notice how he kept a grasp of the sheets up close to his chest. Covering himself. “Oh, thank you,” she said, and Rosalina merely smiled.

Mario murmured something that sounded like a thank you and went to take a careful sip. As if she could read her mind, Rosalina took back Peach’s cup just as she went to steady Mario’s hands. She didn’t need him spilling and burning himself after everything he had already been through just to get to bed. The thought that spilled tea would make her bedsheets dirty didn’t come until much later.

They all looked up briefly at the sound of the front door opening down the hall, and voices. “Ah, Daisy and Luigi must be back.” Pauline commented. Peach agreed with a small hum.

Sure enough, a few moments later, Luigi poked his head in the door to see the three roommates and Mario. “Oh. Hey.” he waved awkwardly. “We, uh, we brought some food. If you’re hungry. Do you want anything, Capo?”

Everyone turned to look at Mario, who had been staring into his tea. He shook his head.

Luigi nodded. “Okie dokie. Well, food is out here if you guys want it.” he shrugged and left with a friendly wave. They could all hear the ruffling of plastic bags as Daisy was setting out everything. Peach could smell the Beanish cuisine.

“Well, I’m hungry.” Pauline got to her feet. “Why don’t you come with us, Peach? You could use a bite or two.”

Peach hesitated, and looked between her roommates and Mario. He probably didn’t intend it, but the big-eyed look he gave her made her feel like she was abandoning him. She set her own cup down to help take his and place it on her nightstand as well. “I’ll be there in just a moment,” she told them, without looking away from Mario.

Rosalina left her with a soft touch to her shoulder. Pauline let out a soft hum of understanding, and they seemed to share a smile before they stepped out of her room. They left her door open just a crack.

Mario swallowed hard once they were alone. “You should. You should eat.” he said, and all at once his exhaustion had washed over his expression again. His hands relaxed, from being held up before.

She nodded and helped him ease back again, hands on his shoulders, until his head rested on a pillow. “I will. Don’t you worry.” she pulled the blankets up to his chin and felt a small thrill as she looked down at his sleepy face. He looked so cozy. Ready for a long rest. “I’ll be back to check on you soon, okay? You just relax and go to sleep.”

He blinked, she thought, in lieu of a nod. And as she stood up to leave his side, it took every ounce of her strength to keep herself from leaning down to kiss his forehead. His eyes followed her as she went around her room to turn off most of her lights. Only the fairy lights, strung high around the walls, remained on. She left the room alight with a soft, warm glow.

Closing the door behind her, she thought, had to be the most difficult thing she’d had to do that night.

Even as her roommates and Luigi welcomed her into the living area and invited her to eat, Peach couldn’t focus on anything other than the thought of Mario laying, miserable and alone, on her bed.

The couch had been set up with a couple of pillows borrowed from a couple of the girls, and blankets. A bed for her. Pauline touched her arm as soon as she saw where Peach was looking. “Oh, yes. We set that up for you, but we were talking…” she hesitated, looking at the others. 

Daisy shoved a bowl of rice and chicken in her face and quickly went back to organizing the rest of the food. “Yeah. We think that you should sleep in your own bed tonight.” she explained.

Peach tilted her head. “You mean—? With—?”

“With Mario, yes.” Rosalina came to sit down on the stool beside her, looking down at her meal. “When someone gets a concussion, it is important to monitor them at all times. Including throughout the night.”

Pauline nodded. “Especially since he didn’t go to a hospital or anything. He’s probably fine now. But we have to keep an eye on him anyway.” she got started on taking a bite of chicken.

The rest of them came to sit around the table alongside Peach, eating their food. Peach could hardly bring her fork to her mouth. “I, um, I don’t understand. If he needs to be monitored, then why doesn’t Luigi look after him?” she asked. Luigi froze in the middle of taking a bite. “I mean, I’m not complaining. I’m just confused about why you think it should be me. Luigi is his brother. I’m just his Princess.”

She frowned when Daisy snorted. “Yeah, you are.” she added with a smug grin, but waved off the look everyone gave her. “Sorry, sorry, go on.” she continued to laugh to herself. A joke Peach wasn’t quite sure that she got.

Luigi lowered his fork. “Well, ehm. Yes. I know what you mean. But I would feel really weird sleeping in your room.” he gave a nervous laugh. “I don’t—! I don’t mean in a bad way. It’s just, it’s your bed. It doesn’t feel right for me to use your bed and make you sleep on the couch. Anyway, you spent all night helping him. I don’t see why you couldn’t keep doing that.” he grinned.

“Besides, Mario’s with you all the time anyway.” Pauline nudged her elbow. “It’s harder for you to tell, but it’s sort of obvious to us. Mario is a lot less stressed when you’re around. He takes his job pretty seriously, you know. He feels significantly better when he knows you’re close to him. He wants to know that you’re safe.”

Before Peach could try to put together a response, her face burning, Rosalina floated into the conversation. “We think that if you are there with him tonight, he will be able to sleep better.” she explained their rationale with her usual profound simplicity.

Nodding her head, Peach tried to swallow a small mouthful of food. “I see.” she managed to answer. Judging by the smiles she was getting, she was blushing very noticeably. “Um. I just have one question. I don’t really understand, why didn’t Mario want to go to the hospital?”

The faces she got told her that the answer was supposed to be obvious. Dammit. Something she hadn’t understood, yet another aspect of the reality she was apart from making itself known to her. Another reason she didn’t quite belong.

Luigi looked down at his food. Daisy’s smile fell, and Peach watched as she reached across the table to rub his shoulder. It was Pauline who actually faced her, glancing down the hall before looking back at her.

“Healthcare is, well, it’s very expensive here.” Pauline put it lightly, with a sheepish smile. “Mario didn’t want to go because he wouldn’t have been able to afford the bill they would send him home with.”

That nervous look in her gray eyes told Peach that they had been avoiding telling her this. Avoiding letting her in on reality as they knew it, for her own good. It was always for their own good. Peach had never been completely bitter about it; her friends truly believed they were doing what was best for her when they withheld information or didn’t provide full context for certain situations. Or perhaps they had no idea where she was in the dark at times. 

She bit back a colder response, and looked down at her rice. “I see.” she said, not feeling hungry anymore. “I suppose no one thought to mention this to me before we brought him back here.”

No one answered her. Luigi continued to eat without taking his eyes off the granite counter, and she understood that the state of the brother’s finances was not a comfortable topic for him to be engaged in. Daisy and Pauline avoided her eyes, but Rosalina watched her, ever patient.

A thick lump of anger lodged itself into her throat. “I suppose, then, that we all forgot that his contract with the Mushroom Kingdom explicitly states that he has insurance directly through the state that fully covers healthcare. Pauline and I went over it with him multiple times.” she paused to let out a long, shaky breath, and stood up from her stool. “Perhaps he forgot after his head got bashed with a beer bottle. Fine. But, if what I am understanding is correct, then we should have known better and taken Mario to a hospital.” Instead of fumbling around in the bathroom, they could have been at a facility this whole time filled with people who knew exactly what to do. 

He could have had all the right treatment and medication at his disposal. Instead, they had just dragged him back to the apartment and hoped for the best. 

Luigi set his fork down and rested his elbows on the table. “Ehm. Well, we could have. Yes. But Mario, he would be very upset if we did that. I can already say that he would refuse to cooperate.” he shifted the way he was sitting and only met Peach’s eyes for a moment. “But, we, we have been duped before. We are told that we don’t have to worry about certain expenses, and then the next day we find that the bill is three times what they promised. Mario hasn’t seen a doctor for the past three years because of that.”

Peach looked off into space, amazed. So this was what her citizens were living through. Ordinary people couldn’t get decent healthcare without nearly bankrupting themselves if they didn’t have the coverage. Not everyone had direct connections to her and could get free healthcare merely by being her bodyguard. This was the world that she had been oblivious to for the better part of her life. Brief glimpses filled her mind, instances of the lives around her. People skipped out on annual check-ups just because they couldn’t afford to trust the system anymore. Emergencies happened, and people had nowhere to go for treatment because they didn’t have the money to fix everything. Peach wondered, with horror, about those with chronic illnesses or injuries and how they could possibly be expected to survive when the odds were stacked against them.

“What kind of state is this?” she asked herself, stepping away from the table. The revelation, every time it hit her, always expanded with a new, terrifying dimension. 

She jumped at the sound of a chair sliding along the laminate floor. “Whoah, whoah, whoah. Slow down, girlie.” Daisy came around and hugged her shoulders. “You can worry about that when you’re actually the one in power. Come on, we’re just kids. It’s good to think acknowledge, but don’t get started blaming yourself for all this stuff your family got started way-back-when again, alright?”

Pauline nodded. “She’s right. It’s just out of our hands right now. All we can do is be grateful that we have what we have. Mario would definitely be. After all, he’s got you.” she rose from her chair with a soft smile and joined Daisy by her side.

Rosalina also moved close, without a word; Peach only had to look at her to know that she had her support and love, always.

Seeing the roommates all together, Luigi grinned and got up from the table. “You don’t have to worry. Mario’s tough. He needs his time to recover, but he’ll bounce back. He always does.” he approached the group and rested his hand on Peach’s shoulder. “Like she said, Mario has you. You are very important to him. Not just because you’re the Princess, or because it’s his job to protect you. He would rather be here with you than at a hospital with doctors any day, whether he got hit on the head or ran over by a car.”

He might have been trying to exaggerate, as he had a smile like he was joking, but Peach didn’t quite see the humor in it. As far as she was concerned, Mario was hurt. A new urge struck her. She had to see him again.

She glanced at each of them for a moment. “Thank you. Everyone. But, um.” she paused, awkwardly. She adjusted her robe around herself. “I think I should go to bed now. I’ll watch him, like you said.”

There was a lot to sleep on, after all.

Pauline gave an understanding smile and patted her back. “Okay. You do that, dear. Just holler if you need anything.”

Their arms left her, and Peach backed away with a small wave.

Once she was down the hall, she could hear their quiet voices start up conversation again, and she let out a soft sigh. Even if she had a lot to learn, her friends would be there for her. She could be certain of that. Every single day, there was something new, a consequence that she had never before been aware of that she could trace a clear path back to a policy decision made in her own castle. Each story added a new weight to her shoulders.

When she grew into her role as the future monarch of the Mushroom Kingdom, she didn’t want to find herself one day only just realizing the collateral damage of her decisions and the real impacts they had. But she just couldn’t be aware of anything if she was kept above it all. Whatever she did, she had to do anything to stay at MKU and continue learning. Continue meeting people and making these stupid mistakes, if not only just so she could spare even one person from suffering. Her Kingdom was a mess. She was going to have to be the one to clean it up.

And she would. She promised herself, twisting the doorknob to her room, that she would be the one to get the ball rolling on real change. It was the least she could do in return for her people showing her what it meant to live. Though, on how to get started, Peach just didn’t know where she could possibly begin.

The moment she stepped back into her room, she felt the stress of future responsibilities and current disasters fall away.

The room, dimly lit with golden light. Her floors, tidy as usual, a soft rug with a pretty pattern bringing the colors all together. And her bed, with the sweetest sight. The man who would do anything for her, stirring at the sound of her footsteps.

He blinked awake. Peach felt her heart pound as his blue eyes looked up at her.

“Just a moment,” she whispered. She hurried into her bathroom to tidy up. Gather his clothes, the glass. She had to step back out of her room to toss the clothes in the wash, and to quickly ask how to dispose of the glass, but Pauline merely took the glass from her to take care of it and told Peach not to worry. So she stepped back into her room and closed the door for the final time.

Mario watched her with a steady, sleepy look. “Is okay?” he asked, his voice low and groggy.

Frowning, Peach wasn’t certain what he meant at first. She stepped around to the other side of her bed and hesitated to sit down. “Oh. Yes, everything’s fine.” she breathed, and went to scoot across the mattress until she was next to him. She left enough space to where she thought he would be comfortable. “They told me that I should keep an eye on you. Just to make sure that you’ll be alright. So I’ll be here, if that’s okay.”

With what appeared to be a vague nodding motion, Mario took in a deep breath. His eyelids drooped. “Mm.” he acknowledged, and his eyes slid closed for a moment. Peach tilted her head when she could tell that he was still awake by the way he breathed. “Thank you. Of everything. And sorry for the, the disturbtion...Dis— disruption.” he managed to shift his body until he had turned to face her on his side. The movement took a lot out of him, and Peach had to bite her lip to hide her smile. His fading voice, the grammar, it shouldn’t have been so endearing. 

She shifted her legs under her sheets and rested back against some of her pillows. His arm rested between them, as if he had been reaching for her. “It’s no trouble at all, Mario. I should be the one apologizing.” she raised her hand to card her fingers through his curly hair. Now that it was dry, it was soft as well. “I’m sorry that I got you hurt. We could have avoided that if I hadn’t been so dumb. I hope that, um, that you can forgive me.”

His eyebrows creased. He squinted up at her, fighting for consciousness. “Principessa. Peach. If they, if they have one hundred bottles. I will take them.” he struggled to get the words out. “On my head. I will take them for you.” he reached up. His hand moved in a blind direction at first, until he happened to catch her wrist. He squeezed her hand, eyes glittering under the soft lights, and he smiled for her.

The color rushed to Peach’s cheeks. “Oh, Mario,” she giggled before she could help it. “You know, I really appreciate that. I don’t want you to do anything like that for me, but I appreciate it. You’re very special to me; I hate to see you hurt like this.”

She went to lay beside him, her hand still within his weak grasp. Still, he smiled, even as his body began to fail him and his eyes couldn’t stay open anymore. “I don’t mind. Because you— you are safe.” his breathing began to lengthen, and though the pain had dulled, it was still evident in the shakiness of his arm. “I want to make you safe. Always.” His shoulders were still tight, even as his body was winding down for sleep.

His eyes finally closed. Peach felt her heart clench. “That’s very sweet of you.” she whispered, and she leaned toward him to press her lips to his forehead. A soft kiss, no longer than a moment. Still, Peach could feel the heat rise on her face. “I know that you’ll always keep me safe. Now go to sleep. You need some rest.”

She leaned back away from him and saw that he was out. He made a soft noise, she thought, the vestiges of his consciousness agreeing with her. But otherwise, he was fast asleep. His chest rose and fell with long and consistent breaths. His hand never let go of hers.

Smiling, she tried not to dwell on it. He likely just fell asleep before he noticed.

At once, right before her eyes, Peach saw the tension and the pain nearly vanish completely. She had never seen him so relaxed before. Resting there, in the middle of her bed, under the soft light surrounded by warm blankets and pillows, Mario slept. With rest would come healing, and Peach felt a wonderful satisfaction that she would be there for it. For once, she was able to be the one to keep him safe. She knew he would be okay.

She settled down against her own pillow. Listening to the murmurs of her friends down the halls, the low rumble of the air conditioner, and Mario’s deep breaths, Peach closed her eyes.

She didn’t let go of his hand.

O~o~O

**Author's Note:**

> Whew, this story got a lot longer than it was supposed to! Actually this is just a small chunk taken out of a larger AU that I had gotten started writing a long time ago. I wrote about 20k words of it at first before I sort of laid off on it because it kind of was getting too specific with certain things about my life. It turns out the scene I really only wanted to write from that story was Peach helping Mario get the glass out of his hair, so I sort of molded this fic around that and threw the context in wherever I could fit it. The rest of the story was written in Mario's perspective, but I could only envision this particular scene in Peach's, so that's why I decided to make this a oneshot instead of a full fledged story.
> 
> Anyway, the concussion is definitely not handled very well, but I don't want you to take that to mean I don't know what to do in the event of a concussion lol, I mostly just wanted to use this story to illustrate how ineffective Peach feels when it comes to normal things, being a Princess and all. 
> 
> I sort of drew Peach's general characterization here from a reaction I had a long time ago when a friend of mine was laying on the ground after doing a hard workout. He had asthma and needed his inhaler, so I sprinted across the field hollering for the trainers to help, but they were slow to react. I ended up taking care of it myself even though I don't really know anything about how to handle asthma. Later, the trainers were laughing at the whole situation, and generally were making me feel embarrassed about reacting the way I did. But honestly, if I was the one laying on the ground unable to breathe, then I would have really appreciated someone sprinting and yelling like a fool across a field for me. Anyway, that was a couple of years ago, so everyone involved has probably forgotten about that by now. 
> 
> Ah, well, it was nice to finally get this story out of my head since it's been sitting up in there for a while. Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading!
> 
> -Drones


End file.
